Neon Code Evangelion
by Vendetta1414
Summary: In the year 2015 a.t.b, the Angels will return. Our only hope will rest on the shoulders of a group of children. But will one of them be able to let go of his past grievances, or will he bring the world crumbling down before the Angels do?
1. Beginning of the End

Neon Code Evangelion – Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or Evangelion**

Note: Since this takes place in 2015 like the Evangelion canon, the Geass cast will be two years younger.

_In the year 2000 a.t.b., a meteorite impacted in Antarctica causing an explosion so catastrophic it caused the ice cap to melt, leading to tsunamis and drastic rises in water levels that resulted in the immediate deaths of over two billion people within the southern hemisphere. What also resulted was the axis of the Earth shifted, causing global climate change, vast environmental damage, and numerous natural disasters. The event, which was the worst disaster to in recorded history, became known as the Second Impact._

* * *

Today was a relatively peaceful day for Lelouch Lamperouge, who was as far as most people were aware of, was a normal fifteen year old teenage boy. He closed his textbook, tired of learning about Second Impact. The sun was just starting to set, and the cicadas were chirping their usual cacophony of noise. His sister Nunnally was currently out shopping with the maid Sayoko and he decided that he was going to prepare them dinner. Before he could though, the phone rang.

"Hello, this is Lelouch. Who is this?" he said, not thinking much about the call.

"Mr. Lamperouge." The headmaster of the school Lelouch attended, Ruben K. Ashfors was the one calling. Could you please come to my office? There is someone who wants to meet you."

_Who would want to see me? _Lelouch thought. _It couldn't be someone from the royal family, they think I'm dead. _

"I'm on my way." Lelouch told the headmaster. He hung up the phone and started to walk over to where his "guest" was waiting. As he walked through the grounds, he was starting to get an incredibly uncomfortable feeling.

Lelouch was trying his best to figure out who this person could be as he was walking to his destination. He didn't like mysteries because it was difficult to plan out your strategy if one of the pieces was missing. Also something that was bothering him was the headmaster sounded very serious. That just added to the mystery, and therefore, caused more pieces to be missing, and therefore, made it harder to plan ahead.

When Lelouch finally arrived at the headmaster's office, he couldn't see the man anywhere in sight. The only person that was in the room was a man who was wearing white gloves, orange sunglasses and had brown hair that went down the side of his face and formed a beard. The man had his hands crossed, covering his mouth. Lelouch immediately recognized the man.

"You are Gendo Ikari." Lelouch stated, trying to sound as calm as he could give that he wasn't expecting a man of Gendo's caliber to be visiting him today… or any day for that matter.

Gendo Ikari, before the war, was a brilliant scientist and a politician who even acted as an ambassador to Britannia, although, he collaborated with them to assassinate Genbu Kururugi, and he had succeeded, which in turn ended the war effective immediately. Impressed by his willingness to abandon his own country, and not to mention how ruthless the man could be when necessary, the Emperor had labeled him the highest you could label someone part of the Britannian nobility, Grand Duke. The Emperor stated the reason for this, and I quote, "He perfectly embodies the virtues and ideals that Britannia holds so very dearly". The man was hated by numerous amounts of people, Britannian and Japanese alike, but due to his position nobody could touch him. He answered to the Emperor _himself, _and was also the head of the secret organization known as NERV, so if you want to try and mess with him, good luck to you.

"Hello, Lelouch Lamperouge. Please have a seat. Or would you rather me call you Lelouch vi Britannia, your highness?" After Gendo said this Lelouch froze. Not only did he know Lelouch's secret, but he also had a tone that Lelouch used in his multiple chess games, a tone that stated "I have the upper hand, just try and stop me."

_How the hell did he figure it out?_ Lelouch was trying to regain his composure, but was failing miserably. The man in front of him had pretty much just smacked him across the face with the fact that he knew who Lelouch was, and Lelouch right now was feeling rather dazed because of the metaphorical slap. Lelouch took the seat he was offered as he felt as if he was about to fall over. The question he asked himself still banging around in the fore front of his thoughts, Lelouch had decided to finally ask.

"How did you know?" He asked, barely containing his anger. Lelouch thought that the entire world believed him to be dead, and he had been so careful to keep that lie seem true to others. So how the hell did he know?

"I've secretly been keeping an eye on you ever since you 'died', and you don't need to worry, I haven't informed your father." Gendo stated more to just tell Lelouch the facts than to comfort him.

_You expect me to believe that? _Lelouch shot back in his thoughts rather than voicing it out. He was talking to a person who sold out his own country for power, why the hell would anyone believe a word he said.

"What do you want from me?" Lelouch asked, knowing that Gendo wouldn't have just called himself here just to tell him he knows who he is. When someone as powerful as Gendo knows something that secretive, they usual want something of the person the secret pertains to.

"There is a project that NERV has been working on. I would like you to be the pilot of it."

"Pilot, you mean something like a Knightmare Frame?"

"No."

"Then what is it?" Lelouch demanded more than asked.

"That information is classified unless you agree to pilot it." Gendo shot back in the same tone he had since the beginning of this conversation.

"Why me?" Lelouch was wondering why _he _specifically had to pilot this…_thing. _

"Not just anyone can pilot it. It takes a…special someone in order for it to work, and you are the individual who is most qualified to be its pilot." Gendo paused in between his explanation, as if searching for the correct words to describe why Lelouch was apparently this "special someone" as Gendo called it.

"What if I refuse?" Lelouch asked. He wanted to know if there was any chance at getting the upper hand in the conversation. Unfortunately, such was impossible at the moment.

"I think you know the answer to that." Gendo replied, Lelouch catching the faintest of smirks crossing his lips through his gloved hands. Lelouch knew all too well what Gendo had meant when he said that. If he refused, then Gendo simply had to tell the Emperor that his supposedly dead son and potential heir had been found along with his sister. That was something Lelouch was not willing to go through, nor was there anyway in hell he would let Nunnally go through that. "I wouldn't ask you to do this if I had no other choice. Humanity's very existence is at risk and you are one of the very few who can stop our downfall."

_What? _Lelouch was downright confused when Gendo had said this, so he decided to voice it.

"What on earth are you talking about?"

Gendo pulled out a file and put it on the desk he was borrowing from the headmaster. Lelouch picked it up and noticed the heading on the file and the ID card that was also present. It read "Lelouch Lamperouge – The Fourth Child."

_Bastard, as if he already knows I'll accept._ Lelouch cursed in his thoughts. _He's just like him. _The relation to Gendo and Lelouch's _father _wasn't a bad comparison. If you were to switch these two and their duties one would be able to bet that no one would know the difference, and the person who made that bet would probably win it.

"You will report to NERV headquarters in two days. Lieutenant – Colonel Misato Katsuragi will be the one to escort you. There, you will find the answer to your question." Gendo got up from the desk after giving Lelouch his orders, as if he was already working for him, and left. Lelouch didn't bother to answer him and just sat in the headmaster's guest chair for a while, angry that he had been used so easily.

"Dammit!" Lelouch yelled as he slammed his fist onto the desk. He hadn't been this angry in a long time.

Outside Gendo had gotten into a limousine that had been waiting for him ever since his arrival at the school. Inside the limo were four other people. One of them was an older Japanese man, another a fourteen year old girl with pale skin, light blue hair, and probably her most striking feature, red eyes. The last two were Britannian, one male and one female. The male had similar hair to the teenage girls and the female had indigo colored hair.

"Sorry for the wait Mr. Asplund and Ms. Croomy." Gendo stated as he got in the car.

"It's quite alright." The man, Lloyd Asplund had said back to him in his usual nonchalant manner. Gendo then turned to the Japanese man, Kozo Fuyutsuki, Vice Commander of NERV.

"I've arranged for the Fourth Child to be present at NERV in two days." Gendo told him.

"So he has agreed to pilot it?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Not yet, but he will."

"You're sure?" Lloyd asked.

"Positive." Gendo told him. "Rei," Gendo then addressed the girl with red eyes sitting next to him.

"Yes, Commander Ikari?" the girl asked in an uncomfortable monotone that made Lloyd shudder a bit. The girl sitting next to him, Cecile Croomy sighed at her boss's overreacting.

"You are going to start attending this school starting tomorrow."

"Yes, Commander Ikari."

As the limousine drove by, it passed by two girls, one who was wearing maid outfit, the other was a young Britannian girl of eleven years old. With long chestnut colored hair that went down to her waist. Both women were carrying grocery bags.

"C'mon Sayoko!" the young girl called out as she ran ahead. "Lelouch is waiting for us!" This girl was Nunnally Lamperouge, Lelouch's beloved sister.

"Yes, I know." The maid chuckled as she tried her best to catch up with the young girl.

* * *

Across the ocean away from Japan, more commonly known as Area 11, in Britannia there was a girl of fourteen with fiery red hair was sitting in a hangar. Tomorrow she was to fly over to Japan with her, and I quote, "Beloved EVA Unit 02.", although the wait was making her rather bored. "I'd rather be fighting an Angel right now." she whined.

"Now, now, don't be like that Asuka." a man with hair tied into a pony tail with his chin covered in stubble said as he walked over and handed her a drink. "Just have patience. We'll be leaving tomorrow so there's no need to worry."

"But why does the damn airship have to be so long?" the girl continued to whine. "I'll miss all the action at this rate. And why the heck are they bringing Unit 03 along? They haven't even found the pilot for it yet! Heck Unit 01 doesn't even have a pilot!" Patience was not one of Asuka's strong suits.

"Actually, I heard that the pilots for them were found." The man, Ryouji Kaji told her.

"Really, who are they?" Asuka asked her curiosity peaked.

* * *

Back in Japan, a boy with brown hair and blue eyes was listening to music on his SDAT player looked down at a message in front of him, Shinji Ikari. What surprised him about the package was that it was from someone who he never expected to hear from ever again: his father.

* * *

I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be. -Douglas Adams

* * *

Alrighty! My first EVER fanfiction. And it's about, in my opinion, two of the best anime EVAHHH!

Okay time for seriousness. No you may notice that this story is very similar to another story called Neon Geass Evangelion by BahamutX978. The reason for this is because this story was inspired by that story, heck that story was the main reason I joined , so that I could write my own crossover story about these two anime. Now I am not going to completely rip off Bahamut's story, I have made a few changes. For example, Mari isn't in this story. I know that the entire Mari fanbase is going to hate me for that, but I couldn't find a way to intergrate her into the story where she would be absolutely vital. My apologies to the Mari fanbase. There are going to be other changes but I won't mention them here because I would be heading into spoiler territory with where I want to go with my story.

Now this part goes directly to BahamutX978. Look, I do apologize for if you feel offended by how similar these stories are in comparison. I tried my best to stop that from happening, but the way you wrote just seemed like the best direction to go in. I do admit that you are the better writer when it came to writing this scene, but I promise you that I will in no way try to slander you and your writing. Neon Geass Evangelion is one of my favorite fanfics, heck it's in my favourites for crying out loud. I will promise not to be too similar to your story and that I will go in my own direction from this point forward. If you feel offended that is fine by me, I will totally understand. If you can in anyway help me to improve upon this story, or anyone else for that matter, I will GALDLY take the advice and try my best to work with it. I hope you understand.

Please Rate, Review, and Follow this story.

Hope to see you to the very end.


	2. Attack of the Angels

Neon Code Evangelion – Attack of the Angels

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or Neon Genesis Evangelion**

To say Lelouch was mad today would be an understatement. He was downright furious. Furious that he had no choice but to listen to Gendo or risk exposure of who he was, furious that he was being asked to pilot god knows what, and furious that his escort ems to be taking their sweet little time because she was twenty minutes late. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a siren go off.

"_A special state of emergency has been declared. All civilians are to report to the nearest shelter." _A voice stated on the loud speakers placed around the city.

_State of emergency? _Lelouch wondered, but was again brought out of his thoughts, this time by the sound of screeching tires on the road. He turned to see a blue car heading to where he was standing; rather recklessly as the car looked as if it was in the middle of an action movie with how fast it was going. The car continued to speed towards his direction at a speed that was well above the normal limit a screeched to a halt right in front of Lelouch. The sight had left Lelouch dumbstruck and also wondering if the driver had gotten their licence from a cereal box. The window of the car rolled down, revealing a beautiful woman with purple hair that went past her shoulders and ended at her shoulder blades. The woman was also wearing black sunglasses that completely covered her eyes.

"Hey there." The woman said rather cheerfully. "You must be Lelouch."

Regaining his composure from the game of crazy taxi he just saw, Lelouch's face then became serious.

"You are Lieutenant – Colonel Misato Katsuragi, correct?" he asked the insane driver.

"You betcha." She answered. "Sorry that I'm late. Get in and we'll be on our way. Just got to make one more stop and we will be good to go."

"Shouldn't we be finding a shelter right now?" Lelouch asked, wondering if Misato even heard the state of emergency warning over the sound of her screeching tires.

"We don't need to worry about that right now." Misato replied.

"Fine then." Lelouch got in the back seat and didn't bother to put his seatbelt on. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Milly to take care of Nunnally for him. After that he put his phone away and started glaring out the window, still angered by this entire situation.

"Hey, you could lighten up a bit. No need to be such a sour puss." Misato tried to lighten the mood, but that was something difficult to do. I mean, this _is _Lelouch were talking about.

"Forgive me if I don't like being forced into something that I hardly understand." Lelouch replied with a cold tone. "Which, by the way, means I hate you're boss already."

"Welcome to the club. He can be such an ass sometimes." Misato replied in a rather unprofessional manner referring to her boss. After all this was said Misato then went to pick up one Shinji Ikari.

* * *

At NERV HQ, a tall skinny blonde man entered the operations room with a shorter fat bald man.

"Welcome Prince Clovis." Gendo welcomed the viceroy of Area 11.

"Ikari." Clovis nodded in acknowledgement. "So this…Angel as you call it, it has appeared off the coast."

"Yes." Gendo replied. "We have the situation under control, as I'm sure the Emperor has informed you of such."

"I'll be the judge if that." Clovis shot back. "I am unconvinced that NERV has the means to fight this opponent, so I will handle the situation." After saying this, Gendo smirked a little behind the hands that were covering his face as he knew that the military will fail at killing the Angel.

"We've already set up a defensive perimeter around the coast. They will be ready to fire on my command." General Bartley, the short bald man who came with Clovis told Gendo. "In the event of failure, we have already set up plenty of Knightmare Frames around the city."

"If that is what you wish." Gendo said to the prince and general. "NERV will let you deal with the situation as you see fit, Prince Clovis." Gendo would enjoy watching these two imbeciles fail miserably.

On the aforementioned shore, hundreds of tanks, aircraft, and Knightmare Frames, both land and aquatic, were stationed to combat the threat that was coming to their shores.

None of these soldiers would survive the encounter with the Angel.

* * *

"So where are we meeting our next passenger?" Lelouch asked, bored out of his mind because it seemed that Misato had no idea where she was going.

"Oh so he speaks again. Thought you fell asleep on me there you were so quiet." Lelouch just blankly stared at her after she made her little joke. "Oh take a joke Mr. Buzzkill. Anyway we should be getting there shortly. Just a few more turns and we'll pick him up."

_Yeah, right. _Lelouch chided in his thoughts. This woman had no sense of direction based on how many turns they had already made and how many times she had to check her GPS.

* * *

Shinji was standing in a phone booth, listening to an automated voice say that the phones weren't operating due to the state of emergency.

"No good and my cellphone isn't working either." Shinji sighed after checking his cell. "And none of the busses or trains are working either." He commented to himself aloud, even though there was no one there to hear him. He picked up the bag that was next to his feet. "I shouldn't have come here." He told himself in a depressed tone. He had come and done like his father's letter had instructed him to do, but it seems like it was all for nothing. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a rather inappropriate photo of Misato that had writing that said she would pick him up and an arrow pointing to her rather exposed cleavage. There was writing next to the arrow that said "Attention here please!" with a mark of lipstick next to it.

"Well, so much for meeting here." Shinji again said aloud to himself. "I guess I should find a shelter." Shinji then noticed something in his peripheral vision and saw that it was a girl with pale skin and light blue hair and red eyes. She just seemed to be staring at him from across the road. Suddenly he heard some birds fly away and looked in their direction, the sound slightly startling him, and when he went to look back at where the girl was standing she had just disappeared. Shinji was starting to think he was seeing things as he had just looked away for a moment and it would have been impossible for someone to just up and vanish like that.

Suddenly, there was a shockwave and he felt a strong gust of wind and covered his ears due to the sound created by the wind. He then saw several Sutherlands rush past him, not paying any attention to him. Shinji then took note of several Britannian gunships in the distance, firing at something behind a mountain. When it came from behind the mountain, Shinji couldn't believe his eyes.

It was a gigantic figure that had a lanky frame and dark green skin. There were bones that seemed to act as a sort of shoulder pad and bones that resembled a rib cage on its chest. There were large spikes protruding from its elbows on its thin, gangly arms. Shinji was glued the spot, mouth agape and staring in absolute fear. Before he could think pf what to do, there were a series of missiles that were fired at the monstrosity, but all the creature did was blink, not even phased by the barrage of explosives. It raised its arm and a glowing purple spike flew out from its hand and struck some of the aircraft. One of the aircrafts lost its wing and started to fly out of control, nearly hitting Shinji as it crashed into the building he was standing in front of.

Shinji let out a scream of fear and fell back as the aircraft exploded. Shinji then covered his eyes with his arms, expecting to die right then and there, but then he heard the screeching of tires and decided to open his eyes. When he looked up, he saw a blue sports car in front of him. One of the doors opened to reveal none other than Misato herself.

"Hey there, sorry were late." Was all she had to say for herself. "You might want to get in. Like right now." Misato rushed out the last part.

Not needing to be told twice in a situation like this, Shinji bolted for the car and practically dived into the passenger seat. Meanwhile, the gunships above were doing their best to try and damage the monster in front of them and avenge their fallen comrades, but were failing miserably. Nothing seemed to hurt this thing.

Debris was hitting the roof of the car, making a bunch of dents while Misato shifted gears and drove like…well Misato. The car was nearly crushed by the giant foot of the monster, but it seemed that luck was on the passengers and driver of the blue sports car side today.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Lelouch demanded frantically on the ground in the back of the car, now regretting not putting on his seatbelt.

"That thing is what NERV calls an Angel." Misato explained while trying her best not to get crushed by the monster or shot by a stray bullet from a Knightmare or gunship. Shinji was still screaming, not liking being in such a close encounter with death right now.

As Misato was doing her best to keep these two boys alive, all of the tanks, Knightmare Frames, gunships, anything the military could spare right now was focused on the giant monster that was decimating their forces, without taking any damage itself.

It seemed as if there was no hope for these soldiers in this battle.

* * *

"Goddammit! We've hit that thing with everything we've got and still it has shown no signs of stopping!" Bartley screamed as he banged his fists on the table. He, Clovis, and Gendo, along with the rest of the command staff were all gather at NERV HQ, Central Dogma, trying to find a way to destroy their opponent.

There were many other people present during this, all of them NERV staff members monitoring various bits of data and relaying to their commanding officers. Cecile Croomy was among them, trying her best to help out, as well as another woman named Maya Ibuki, and two other men known as Shigeru Aoba and Makoto Hyuuga. These people were the most prominent members of the command center. Lloyd was also present; even he wasn't really paying attention as he was indulging himself in a cup of pudding. After all, there was really nothing for him to do at the moment.

"It appears to have an AT field, as we expected." Fuyutsuki observed as he was standing next to Gendo.

"Yes. Conventional weapons are of no use against an Angel." Gendo replied.

"Bartley." Clovis got the bald general's attention. "Make the call. Order all units to fall back, but have the gunships lure it away from the city." Clovis ordered him to do. Clovis hated the Japanese for killing his supposedly dead half brother and sister, Lelouch and Nunnally. He immensely hated Gendo Ikari, not only for the fact that he was an eleven, but for the absurdity that a number would be made a Grand Duke. Clovis might be the viceroy of Area 11 and the Third Prince of Britannia, but Gendo technically had more power than him with the position he had, and Clovis couldn't stand that. Clovis would do all he could to prove this man's authority was obsolete.

"Yes, your highness." Bartley agreed and made the call that would hopefully end this confrontation.

* * *

Misato was able to escape all the chaos and had pulled her car over to observe the situation with a pair of binoculars. She saw the Angel follow the gunships to the outskirts of the city. Just then, they all scattered, trying their best to get away from the terrifying creature.

"What the heck are they- ah crap! They're gonna drop an N2 Mine! Bothe of you get down now!" Misato told the two boys as she pushed Shinji down and covered him with herself, while Lelouch decided to do his best to secure himself in the back.

Suddenly there was a massive explosion where the Angel was standing and the shockwave was so powerful it caused Misato's car to get knocked back a considerable distance.

* * *

"I wonder what's going on up there." Rivalz voiced his thoughts aloud as he was sitting in the shelter with his friends Milly Ashford, Shirley Finette, Nina Einstein, and Nunnally. Nunnally was getting incredibly worried since Lelouch wasn't there with them.

"Don't worry Nunnally; I'm sure he's alright." Milly reassured the young girl.

* * *

Back on the surface, Misato, Shinji, and Lelouch all climbed out of the overturned car.

"You two alright?" She asked.

"I've been through worse." Lelouch told her.

"Yeah, but I can't get this dirt out of my mouth." Shinji told her.

"Oh, you'll be fine. Now help me turn this back on its wheels you two." Misato told them as they all lined up on the car to turn it over. "On three. Three!" Misato completely skipped the counting phase and the three pushed the car back onto its tires. "There we go. That wasn't so bad now was it?"

Lelouch however was breathing heavily.

"Um, are you all right?" Shinji asked the unfit boy.

"Just…not used…to labour." Lelouch replied in between breaths.

"Looks like someone's out of shape." Misato teased the boy. Lelouch glared at her as that was all he could do at the moment. "Anyways, thank for the help you two."

"Um, thank you. But I should be the one thanking you Ms. Katsuragi."

"Oh please, just call me Misato. 'Ms. Katsuragi' makes me feel old." She said as she took off her sunglasses. "And I bet you prefer Shinji, over Mr. Ikari."

"Uh, yeah…"

"And Mr. Friendly over there who is breathing like dog after a walk is Lelouch." Misato pointed to Lelouch who was hunched over, leaning on the car.

"Shut…up." He managed to say in between breaths.

* * *

Back at NERV HQ, everyone was looking at the screen, waiting for conformation if their attack worked or not.

"What is the status of the target?" Clovis asked, waiting for anyone to answer. The blast had disabled some of the equipment NERV was working with, so right now they were completely blind.

"It was a direct hit Prince Clovis, surely it couldn't have survived." Bartley told him to reassure the prince.

"Visuals are back online." Hyuuga had told everyone present. When they came back no one could believe their eyes, save for Gendo and Fuyutsuki.

"Impossible…" Bartley breathed out. The Angel was still standing with barely any damage that wasn't already regenerated. "That was our last resort."

Clovis's calm façade was no gone and replaced with anger, fear, and disbelief.

"Dammit!" He yelled as he slammed his fists on the desk he was standing in front of. He started to storm out, but before he left he glared at Gendo. "I leave responsibility of this matter to you. I'm leaving." Clovis pat out as he stormed out, Bartley following shortly after.

"What a sore loser." Lloyd said after Clovis had left.

* * *

Back in Misato's car, she was talking on the phone to arrange transport into NERV. After that she hung up and started lamenting on the poor shape of her car and favorite dress.

"So we're now on our way to NERV headquarters?" Lelouch asked from the backseat, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yep, from here on out, we are on our way to NERV HQ. You sure are in quite the rush to get there." Misato commented.

"Not really. If I could have my way, I wouldn't even be going there in the first place." Lelouch told her in a tone that wasn't hiding his annoyance.

"Gee, you could kill an Angel with how much of a buzzkill you are." Misato teased, and then received another glare. "What about you Shinji, you more pleasant than Steven Wright back here?"

"Uh..." Shinji didn't know how to respond to that, mainly because he didn't know who Steven Wright was.

"Don't you think your acting a little bit too immature given the situation?" Lelouch asked. "I mean you're probably ten more years older than we are and yet you act half our age." This time it was Lelouch's turn to get a death glare. Misato, wanting revenge for the snide comment, swerved harshly to one side, making Shinji go forward a bit in his seat, but Lelouch, since he still wasn't wearing a seatbelt, went from one side of the car to another and hit the window with the side of his face.

"Guess you should've buckled up huh." Misato told Lelouch with a playful tone.

_He's right. She is pretty immature. _Shinji remarked in his thoughts.

Not long after that, they had finally arrived at the entrance to NERV HQ.

"NERV?" Shinji questioned.

"That's right, were an organization that answers directly to the Emperor." Misato explained.

"No offense when I say this, but I'm a bit surprised this organization employs Japanese. Britannia isn't exactly known for its equal rights." Lelouch commented.

"All that really matters to them is that the job gets done, so they aren't that picky when it comes to hiring people. Also being run by a Japanese man helps a ton." Misato told Lelouch.

"Um, so my father works with NERV?" Shinji timidly asked.

"Well, yeah. What, don't you know what your father does?" Misato asked the boy.

Shinji looked away before he replied, a slight furrow to his brow. "I only know what my teacher told me. He said it was important for mankind's future…" There was a brief period of silence before Shinji started talking again. "Will we be seeing my father?" Shinji asked with apprehension in his voice.

"I can't say for sure, but it is likely." Misato replied. Shinji couldn't help but think back to that day, the day his father abandoned him.

"Oh that's right, you guys have your ID cards right?" Misato asked the two boys.

"Um, I think so…" Shinji said as he searched around his bag and eventually found it. As Lelouch handed his to Misato, he couldn't help but notice the rather poor state of it. It has being held together by various pieces of tape and was wrinkled up. There was also red ink that said "Come. Gendo Ikari."

"Perfect. And..." Misato pulled out a pair of identical books and handed them to the two boys that were labelled 'Welcome to NERV. For Your Eyes Only.' "Here, read this. I was supposed to give you these earlier, but I kind of forgot." She said with a weak chuckle. Shinji looked at the book for a while before speaking again.

"So wait, does this mean we're going to be working with you somehow." Misato remained silent. "It figures. My father wouldn't ask for me unless he needed something…" Lelouch couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the boy. Gendo already showed Lelouch what kind of person he was and reminded him enough of his own father, and he could tell Gendo both thought and acted towards his own child like Charles did to his own children.

"Sounds like you and your father don't get along to well." Misato said as she leaned back into her seat, "Looks like we got something in common."

"…same here." Lelouch solemnly added, looking out his window into the monorail tunnel they were currently in.

"Guess we all have that in common." Misato commented.

Shinji looked from one to another, not knowing what to say. Before he could say anything though, the tunnel opened up to a large open area. There was a forest, large lake, and in the center was a pyramid like building. Shinji was awestruck and even Lelouch was a bit amazed, although he was more refrained than Shinji.

"Oh wow, that's amazing! It's the real Geo-Front!" Shinji exclaimed in amazement.

"Yep, that's right. That there is our secret underground base, NREV HQ." Misato said. "It's the key to rebuilding our world, and to ensure mankind's place in it."

Later, the three of them were now inside NREV HQ, making their way towards their destination, or… at least trying to.

"Huh, this place looks familiar." Misato said as the three of them were standing on a moving platform as she looked around.

"Are you lost?" Shinji asked as he continued to read through the manual he was given.

"Uh…" Misato let out nervously.

"Usually if someone passes a place three times and still doesn't know where they are going, yeah, they're lost." Lelouch told Shinji as he looked over to Misato.

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm not lost! I'm… just not used to the place yet." Misato stated weakly. "Besides, don't worry about it too much! They make these things to be used you know!"

"Yes, and I'm sure they're perfect for tours where the guide knows about as much as where's she going as the two she's leading." Lelouch said sarcastically.

"Look buddy, sarcasm isn't going to get us there any faster."

"No, but it is going to keep my boredom at bay by the time we arrive at our destination, which will be… would the next month be too soon of an estimation?"

Shinji sighed. He was the youngest here, but he couldn't help but feel like he was the most mature.

* * *

"Where on earth is that woman?" Ritsuko Akagi complained as she put on her lab coat. "She should be here by now."

"She obviously got lost again." Lloyd said. "Should we alert some search parties?" Cecile sighed at her boss's brashness.

"I guess I'll go look for her then." Ritsuko said with a sigh.

* * *

The group currently stood in an elevator. Lelouch leaned against on the wall, arms crossed, and Shinji was still reading his manual. When they got to a certain floor, the elevator stopped and the doors opened revealing none other than Ritsuko herself.

"Oh, uh, hiya Ritsuko." Misato weakly said. The doors closed behind her as she stepped into the elevator.

"You're late, again." Ritsuko told her, annoyance clear in her voice. "You're wasting my time by forcing me to come here and find you because you couldn't arrive on time."

"Sorry." Misato apologized. Ritsuko the turned her gaze towards the other two people in the elevator.

"So, these are the two boys?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yup." Misato replied, eager to change the subject. "According to the Marduk report, these are the Third and Fourth Child respectively." Misato told her old friend.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Ritsuko Akagi, the head of Project E." Ritsuko introduced herself to them.

"The nice one is Shinji, the jerk is Lelouch." Misato pointed to each person individually, and earned another glare from Lelouch.

A few moments later, the group came to a point where they would have to split up. Lelouch was taken to the bridge and Shinji was taken to a dark room with Misato and Ritsuko. When the lights came on, what was in the room surprised Shinji.

"Wh-what the heck? A giant face?" Shinji exclaimed and started to surf through the pages of the manual he had.

"You won't find anything about this in there." Ritsuko told him. "This is the most advanced weapon ever developed by man. The Synthetic Humanoid Evangelion, this is Unit 01." Ritsuko explained.

"It makes a Knightmare look like a salad knife in comparison." Lloyd in another part of the room told Lelouch, climbing a set of stairs with his assistant Cecile.

"It is humanity's last hope for survival." Ritsuko added.

"So than… this is part of my father's work?" Shinji asked.

"Correct." A voice boomed throughout the room. Gendo Ikari was looking down at the Evangelion and other rooms occupants from a balcony. "It's been a while, Shinji." Shinji didn't answer and merely looked down, avoiding his father's gaze. "We're moving out." Gendo said, ignoring his son's discomfort.

"What? But Unit 00 is still in suspension isn't it?" Misato questioned. When she looked at Unit 01, she was able to put the pieces together. "You can't seriously be considering activating Unit 01!" Misato protested.

"Can you think of any other option?" Ritsuko asked her.

"But Rei is too injured, and Asuka isn't here and Lelouch doesn't have Unit 03 to pilot!" Misato argued.

"You did just bring a pilot." Ritsuko then shifted her gaze to where Shinji was standing, head still looking down. "Shinji Ikari," he looked up at Ritsuko when she said his name, "you will be the pilot."

"Wha-"

"But he has no training!" Misato yelled at Ritsuko. "Even Rei and Asuka took time to synchronize with their EVAs, but Shinji has had zero preparation to pilot one!"

"It would be wise to give up Lieutenant – Colonel." Lloyd spoke up from in the balcony where Gendo and now Lelouch and Cecile were standing. "Ms. Akagi knows what she's doing, so I'm sure it would be best to listen to her. Besides, we don't have any other options at the moment." Misato didn't say anything after this, but she did know that Lloyd was right.

"Father," Shinji finally spoke up, his tone both carrying sadness and contempt, "why did you send for me?" he asked.

"I believe you know exactly why." Gendo told him.

"So you just expect me to get in this thing and fight, just like that?" Shinji was now shaking, barely containing the two emotions he was feeling at the moment.

"Correct." Was all Gendo said as a reply.

"But that's crazy! You never wanted me! You abandoned me! So why, why did you call for me?!" Shinji was now looking at Gendo, tears forming in his hate filled eyes.

"Because I now have a use for you." Gendo stated simply.

"But why me?!"

"Because there is no one else who can."

"But you think I can?! I've never seen this thing before in my life and you just expect me pilot it?!" Shinji continued to yell. Whatever attempts there were at containing his anger were gone.

"You will receive instructions." Gendo told him. Shinji couldn't find anything to say after this. "If you're going to do it, then do it. If not, leave." Gendo told Shinji coldly after a moment of silence.

Lelouch's blood was boiling. Gendo had sent his son away simply because he had no use for him, and was no demanding that he pilot this giant piece of machinery or leave. It made the final words that Charles had said to him ring in his head, and that only furthered his anger. He was however brought out of his thoughts when the base shook and there was a muddled _boom _sound.

"It's close, it knows our location." Gendo stated for everyone to hear.

"Shinji, we don't have much time. What will it be?" Ritsuko asked him. Shinji didn't answer and looked to Misato for help.

"Get in, Shinji." She said coldly.

"Why? Why did I even bother to come here?" he muttered.

"Why, Shinji? Why did you come here, if not for this?" Misato asked him as she lowered herself to look him in the eyes. "You mustn't run away, not from your father, and especially not from yourself."

"I know that dammit! But what you're asking is impossible!" Shinji yelled in response, even surprising some people that he swore.

Gendo turned to one of the screens next to him. "Fuyutsuki, begin prepping Rei."

"Rei? Are you sure we can use her?" he asked.

"She's not dead yet." He replied to the vice commander.

"Understood." Fuyutsuki said as the screen switched to show the words 'Sound Only'.

"Rei." Gendo said.

"Yes?" a soft voice said from the screen.

"The spare is unusable. You will have to pilot."

"Yes, sir." The voice replied.

"Alright, let's work fast! We'll swap out the core and reconfigure Unit 01's system for Rei then re-activate!" Ritsuko gave out her orders.

_I knew it. He never needed me, no one does… _Shinji thought despairingly. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a pair of doors open and saw a gurney being pulled by two nurses carrying an injured girl, Rei Ayanami, to the EVA. Her body was covered in bandages, most notably her right eye and entire right arm. She was struggling to get up, her entire frame shaking due to how much pain she was in. Suddenly then base shook again and she fell out of the gurney. Shinji ran over to go and help her up.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked her, but it was quite clear that she was in a lot of pain because she cried out as she was picked up. Shinji felt something drip on his hand and saw that it was the girl's blood. As he looked at the girl, Shinji's resolve hardened.

"I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away!" he repeated to himself, dong the best he could to convince himself that he could do this. He had to do it, he had no choice. "Fine! I'll be your pilot!" Lelouch was a little surprised to hear this, but when he saw Gendo, all he could see was a small grin on his face.

_Bastard, you planned this didn't you? _He thought.

"As you see now, Mr. Lamperouge, what I want you to pilot is the Evangelion. You will have your own though. I have brought you here so that you will witness the battle and decide if you wish to pilot it or not." Gendo explained to Lelouch as they made their way to the command center, but Lelouch didn't answer him. He had nothing to say to this bastard. When they got to the bridge, Unit 01 had just finished its setup.

"Last chance to abort, sir." Misato told Gendo.

"No, we will proceed as planned." Gendo told her. Misato nodded and turned to the screens in front of her.

"Roger. Evangelion Unit 01, launch!" Everyone watched as the EVA went flying upwards and eventually got topside and face to face with the Angel.

"Now Shinji, just focus on walking right now," Ritsuko advised through the communications link. Shinji listened and was able to take a step, but when he tried again he tumbled down.

"Shinji you need to get up!" Misato yelled to him, but as Shinji got up the Angel was right in front of him and he froze completely. The Angel took this opportunity and grabbed the head of the EVA, lifted it up and started to pull on its left arm, as if trying to pull it out of its socket. In the cockpit, Shinji actually felt as if his arm was being pulled and was in large amounts of pain. "Shinji, pull it together, your arm isn't really pulled!" Misato tried to get his attention, but a few moments after she said that the Angel broke the arm of the EVA, and Shinji was going through immense amounts of pain. The Angel then back the use the elbow like protrusion as a spear and started to hit the right eye of the EVA and eventually went right through the head of it, sending the EVA careening into a building and blood to shoot out of the newly formed wound.

Lelouch wasn't paying attention to all of the rambling going on around him. All he could do was focus his attention to Gendo, the man who probably just sent his son to die. He was tense, his fingernails digging deeply into his palm, wanting to just outright punch the man square in the nose. What angered him even more was that it looked like that man didn't even care, as if Shinji was just disposable, just like _him. _

"EVA Unit 01 is re-activating." It was when Lelouch heard this did he stopped glaring at Gendo at looked at the screen that was showing the battle. The head of the EVA was moving around and it looked as if the part of the face that where the mouth would be located was moving. The mouth then fully opened, showing teeth and then let out a bellowing roar. It then got up and started to relentlessly attack the Angel. It was met with resistance when it ran into a near invisible wall, the Angel's AT field. Unit 01 took this opportunity to repair its damaged arm and then proceeded to destroy the AT field. Unit 01 began to create its own AT field which helped speed up the process. When Unit 01 destroyed the field the Angel fired another beam of energy to try and stop Unit 01's progress, but it didn't seem to do much. The EVA then grabbed both of the Angel's arms and broke them then kicked the Angel into a building. EVA 01 then charged the Angel and collided so hard that the building started to slide back. The EVA then started to pummel the core of the Angel, and seeing that no progress was being made ripped off some of the Angel's ribs and used them as a makeshift knife. The EVA made a crack in the core and the Angel, sensing that it was in incredible danger, wrapped itself around EVA 01 and spontaneously combusted.

* * *

After Shinji was retrieved from the EVA and was now resting in the hospital wing of NERV HQ, Lelouch was now talking with Gendo about whether or not he would join.

"So Lelouch, have you reconsidered my proposal?" Gendo asked with indifference, but Lelouch could sense a smug sense of victory emanating from the man, as if he already knew what Lelouch would say. Lelouch didn't answer immediately and Gendo decided to speak up. "There is something that I neglected to mention in our first meeting."

_Probably on purpose. _Lelouch scoffed in his thoughts.

"If you disagree to pilot the Evangelion, there is someone else we could ask to do it." This surprised Lelouch.

_If there was someone else, why didn't they- _Lelouch stopped himself from finishing his thoughts when he caught on to what Gendo was implying.

"After all, Nunnally Lamperouge would agree in an instant if she knew she was doing this to defend her brother." Gendo said, this time not hiding his smug attitude.

"You bastard!" Lelouch yelled at him. "This was your plan all along wasn't it?! To show me what it was like to pilot one of those things and then coerce me into piloting it by using my sister as leverage!" Lelouch exposed Gendo right then and there, but the man didn't reply, all he did was smirk under his folded hands. "Fine, I'll pilot it, but if my sister goes anywhere near one of those things you will regret it." Lelouch warned, not bothering to hide the venom in his voice.

"Welcome to NERV, Lelouch Lamperouge."

* * *

_God's angels often protect his servants from potential enemies. - Billy Graham_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

There is something I should mention. Nunnally is able to walk in this story so if anyone is confused by that I do hope you read this to become unconfused. Now to answer some reviews.

**jetslinger333: **That is why I had Gendo take the credit. He is the type of man who would do that so it makes sense.

**Ramos: **Thank you for understanding the lack of Mari. I will try my best to have the character's _stay _in character and no I will not make any Mary Sue's or super mega awesome robots that destroy anything. I am going to try my best to keep this story realistic (given its content and setting) and make sure to keep the dark tone's that these shows had.

**BlueBubbleFlash: **I wasn't aware of how the Britannian calendar worked so I just sticked with a year that would make sense to most viewers. About the Gendo predicament, the Emperor _himself _declared him Grand Duke, and if you know what kind of man Charlie boy is you know that he doesn't have time for anyone's bullcrap. Also the Emperor and Gendo are working on a little something together but I won't say because SPOILERS! BTW Shinji already hates his father so thats covered, and about Shinji being hated by Brits and Elevens that was the route I was going for, besides I will have Lelouch help him out a bit with that. Also with the NERV employment thing these people know that the world is at stake so while they might not be happy about it they have no choice but to work with NERV. Hope I answered all your questions.

**Imperial warlord: **Thank you.

Please Review and Follow this story.

Hope to see you to the very end.


	3. Settling In Or At Least Trying To

Neon Code Evangelion – Settling In… Or At Least Trying To

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or Neon Genesis Evangelion**

Lelouch covered his mouth as he let out a yawn. Despite his protests, he had stayed at NERV HQ at their request. He had made sure to contact Nunnally and tell her that he was alright. She was worried sick about him; evident from her constant asking of if he was alright. He hated having to make his sister feel like this, and to add on top of that he swore he heard her crying a bit, adding to his guilt. He had practically stayed up all night, running synchronization tests and combat training in those incredibly uncomfortable plugsuits. The color of it was mainly black with golden spots on the wrists and chest, with a purple diamond shaped object over the center of his chest. After the synch tests he was told that he was doing rather well, given that he was new at this sort of thing and was also told he was around the forty to fifty percent area. At least he was adapting fast to his situation. He was brought out of his thoughts when a cup of coffee was brought to his face.

"Here you go." A happy voice had said to him, belonging to Cecile Croomy. "I thought you could use this given that you had to stay overnight. Sorry for making you do that by the way."

"It's alright." Lelouch lied. "I'm more worried about my sister than myself right now."

"Oh, you have a sister?"

"Yes." Was all Lelouch said in reply. He did feel as if he could trust this woman, given that she didn't seem all that bad compared to the _other members _of this organization, but he wasn't willing to take any chances. It was then Lelouch noticed that this woman wasn't NERV personnel, but Britannian military. "You aren't a member of NERV?" Lelouch asked his curiosity peaked.

"No. My boss and I are part of the Britannian military, NERV just helped fund one of our projects and in turn we helped develop some of the weapons for the Evangelions." Cecile explained to Lelouch, still in that chipper tone of hers.

"I see." Lelouch replied after taking in all the information.

"By the way I'm Cecile in case you were wondering." She had told Lelouch her name.

"Lelouch, though I'm sure you already know that."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Lelouch." Cecile had said with a smile. "I hate to just leave you, but I have work to get done."

"It's fine."

"If you ever need someone to talk to, just know that I always have an ear open." Cecile offered Lelouch as she left.

"I'll keep that in mind." Lelouch replied as he drank from his cup. He had to admit that Cecile did seem rather nice and her kindness genuine, but that didn't mean he was about to trust her. He wasn't about to trust anyone in this organization. The only person that he could remotely trust was Shinji and possibly Misato.

_That reminds me. _Lelouch said in his thoughts as he got up and went towards the hospital wing. He had been slightly worried about Shinji after the fight and how he went berserk like that, if it was even him controlling the EVA at that moment. He decided that he was going to go check up on him. After all, there wasn't that much to do.

* * *

Shinji awoke suddenly, finding himself laying down on a bed in what appeared to be a hospital. He lied back down.

"I don't recognize this ceiling."

* * *

Elsewhere, Gendo was in a dark room surrounded by twelve monoliths. Other than Gendo, no one was actually present and was using a holographic interface to hide their identities and make them listen in on the meeting.

"So the Angels have finally returned." One of the monoliths stated.

"Yes. The Fourth Angel attacked and was destroyed. We have acquired the Third and Fourth Child, and EVA Unit 01 was successfully activated and deployed.

"All appears to be according to plan," the deep voice of one of the monoliths stated, "and we shall have to see that it stays that way."

"The damage Unit 01 sustained is only a minor setback, and is a minor concern compared to Unit 00's suspension." Another monolith stated.

"And with the upcoming arrival of the Second Child and shipment of Unit 02 and 03, we are sure to be ready to counter the next Angel's arrival." Another monolith said.

"However, see to it that the construction of Unit 04 and 05 are completed on schedule, and all subsequent ones." Another monolith ordered.

"We are counting on you not to disappoint us, Gendo. It is your duty to make sure that NERV and the EVAs are used appropriately." A monolith reminded him.

"Agreed. Defeating the Angels is only one part of the plan."

"Yes, the Human Instrumentality Project is our primary goal." The monolith with the deepest voice stated. "Be sure that you do not lose sight of it."

"Of course not." Gendo replied. "Rest assured, Seele's plans will come to fruition."

"Let us hope that this committee's trust in your organization is not misplaced." After one of the monoliths said this the meeting came to an end and the room was revealed to be in a room with all green walls so that the holograms would show.

"Relay all information that was transpired in this meeting to the Emperor." Gendo told Fuyutsuki who was in the meeting, standing in the shadows.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Shinji stared out the window, looking at the forests of the Geo-Front. As he was standing there he heard a gurney being pulled, carrying the injured girl that he saw earlier. She was bandaged, and appeared to be much more passive than when he last saw her.

"I see that you're awake." A voice said from behind Shinji. He turned and saw that it was the boy that came with him to NERV.

"Uh, hi… Lelouch was it?" Shinji asked, not remembering if that was the boy's name or not. Lelouch nodded and stopped next to Shinji, staring at the expanse of the Geo-Front along with Shinji.

"So… how was it, inside that thing?" Lelouch asked, still staring out the window. Shinji looked at his arm, recalling the pain he felt when it felt as if it was being pulled.

"It was scary. Whenever something happened to the EVA, it felt like it was happening to me. Misato said that I wasn't actually being hurt, but…" Shinji didn't finish his sentence, now remembering the pain he felt when his eye was being hit.

"I see…" Lelouch said and then reflected on his words. That was what he was going to have to go through for who knows how long. "I'm sorry I wasn't much help out there, but when my Unit gets transported over here I'll be able to help you out."

"Huh?" Shinji turned to the Britannian boy. He wasn't aware that he to was a pilot. Lelouch sighed.

"Your father wants me to pilot one of those things. They tell me more Evangelion will be here sometime next week, and I have little choice but to pilot it." Lelouch explained to the boy.

"Are you afraid?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, more than I've ever been for a long time, but as I said, I have no choice." Lelouch told Shinji truthfully. Lelouch truly was scared to get in one of those because of how inexperienced he was and also because of the pain that will apparently come along with it.

"Why is that?"

"Because if I don't my eleven year old sister would have to, and I would _never _let that happen." Lelouch stated firmly as he tightened his fist. Shinji was surprised at Lelouch's resolve. Even though he had never piloted an EVA before, here he was, doing it so that he could protect his sister.

_If only I had that kind of bravery. _Shinji thought solemnly.

* * *

"We're what?" Lelouch and Shinji asked in unison.

"You heard me." Misato said with glee. "From now on you two will be living with me." Shinji had no idea what to say at this, but Lelouch knew right away what to say.

"No."

"Whys that?" Misato asked with a hint of surprise in her voice.

"I case you weren't aware, I already have a place where I'm living." Lelouch told her sternly.

"Yeah, all by yourself taking care of your sister, not to mention you don't have any parents and you're only fifteen years old." Misato said, previously looking at a file on the boy before she went and told them that they'd be living with her. "And on top of that, for whatever reason, Commander Ikari wants you to be supervised, so since I volunteered to take care of Shinji, I thought you might as well stay at my place. Unless of course you would like someone far stricter to be breathing down your neck every minute of the day who isn't the type to overlook some of your habits, like say, gambling for instance." Misato said with smugness. Shinji gave Lelouch a surprised glance at the revelation that someone his age gambled.

"It seems NERV has done their homework." He commented. Although, he did have one more card that he could play so that he didn't have to move. "Exactly how big is your place?"

"The average apartment size, why?" Misato asked, confused.

"Well don't you think it would be better if we moved to my place? I mean it is pretty large and some of the bills are handled by the headmaster, so all I would have to do was explain to him what's going on and presto, we all live in the equivalent to a mansion sized house." Lelouch then saw Misato tilt her head in consideration. _Check. _Lelouch thought, utilizing his chess metaphor. "What do you say?" Lelouch then saw Misato grin. _Checkmate. _The chess metaphor has concluded.

* * *

Lelouch walked home leaving Misato and Shinji to go and pick up some of her things. He was rather happy that he didn't have to move into Misato's apartment as he had grown more accustomed to his current living quarters and wasn't about to move anytime soon. What made Lelouch even more happy was that he was about to see Nunnally after leaving her alone for so long. He knocked on the door to his residence and he heard rushed footsteps inside. The do flung open and Lelouch nearly fell over when Nunnally tackled into and hugged him.

"Lelouch! I was so worried!" she said, her voice muffled as she was currently face first in his chest.

"Don't worry, it's all right." I tried my best to reassure her, but I could tell that she was shaking. "I'm sorry for worrying you like that." I apologized to her as a returned her hug.

"It's okay. As long as your home and I know you're alright it's okay."

_Speaking of home. _Lelouch thought as he pulled Nunnally out of her near bear hug. "Look Nunnally, there's something we need to talk about."

"What is it?" Nunnally asked, her face showing she was wondering what Lelouch was about to talk about.

"You see, some people are going to be living here with us." _Yep, no way of not making this awkward. _Lelouch thought after he said that. Nunnally looked incredibly confused when he said this. _I really should have thought how I was going to bring this up._

* * *

After Lelouch explained everything to Nunnally, and very thankfully she understood, he heard a car pulling up near the gate and when he looked out the window he saw that it was Misato's and someone's car which he didn't recognize.

"Is that them?" Nunnally asked eager to meet our new roommates. Why Lelouch have no idea, but that's Nunnally for you.

"Yes. Let's go help them bring their stuff inside." Lelouch told her and she excitedly agreed. They went outside and walked up to help out Misato, Shinji, and Ritsuko bring in Misato's belongings.

"Thanks again for helping us out Ritsuko." Misato thanked her friend.

"Don't mention it; I'm just a little surprised that you agreed to move out of your apartment." Ritsuko said.

"Well I just moved in and still had a ton of stuff unpacked, so it was pretty easy to tell the landlord that I was moving out." Misato explained. "What surprised me was when Lelouch offered me and Shinji to live here. He may act like a jerk, but he seems to be nice enough under the tough guy act."

"Don't push your luck." Lelouch warned her.

"And like that he's back to jerk mode. Eh, not surprising really." Misato sighed. Misato then noticed Lelouch's sister next to him. She went over to her and kneeled down so that they were eye to eye. "You must be Nunnally. It is very nice to meet you. I'm Misato." Misato introduced herself in a chipper voice.

"It's nice to meet you to." Nunnally said back in her own chipper voice. "It's going to be real fun to have you living with us." She added.

"Aw, why thank you." Misato gave Nunnally a sweet smile. "Alrighty, let's get this stuff inside and have ourselves a welcome home party!" Misato exclaimed as she, Shinji, and Ritsuko started getting boxes from outside their respective vehicles. Lelouch and Nunnally started to help. Lelouch went to the left passenger side door of Misato's car and when he opened it was greeted by something jumping out and knocking up upside the head, causing him to fall down in a slight daze. "Oh yeah, I should of warned you that Pen Pen was back there." Lelouch heard Misato say.

"He's so cute!" Nunnally exclaimed as she went to go and pet the animal.

_That's not what I'd call him. _Lelouch angrily thought. He started to get up when he saw Shinji offer him a hand up. "Thanks." He accepted the help as he was still slightly dazed from the unexpected attack.

"You're welcome. I also had a problem with to him back at Misato's." Shinji sheepishly told Lelouch.

"Not surprising." Lelouch said as he watched Nunnally take Pen Pen inside while rubbing the back of his head. Everyone had started to take everything inside when they noticed that Shinji seemed nervous to go into his new home.

"Something the matter Shinji?" Misato asked him after she set down a box.

"Uh, it's just… I wouldn't want to be a burden to you is all." He said timidly, directing it towards Lelouch.

"Don't be silly." Nunnally was the one to speak up. "If brother was kind enough to let you live with us he obviously doesn't think you would be a burden." Nunnally then went and grabbed his hand and practically dragged him inside. "Now say it with me, 'home sweet home!" Shinji was at a loss for words. He had never received this much kindness before in his life. He looked to Lelouch, who just gave him a friendly smile that said "She is right".

"Home sweet home." Shinji said, with some happiness in his voice, something he rarely experienced or felt.

"Home sweet home! Now let me take you to your room!" Nunnally then dragged him off to somewhere in the now Lamperouge-Ikari-Katsuragi-… Pen Pen residence, making Shinji almost fall over due to the sudden movement.

"She is so nice." Misato commented, a big smile on her face.

"That's just the way she is." Lelouch added, wearing his own smile. Misato noticed this and feigned surprise.

"Oh my god he's smiling!" She said in feigned shock. Lelouch just sighed, shook his head and restarted taking the rest of the boxes inside.

* * *

After a few minutes, everyone had finally gotten all of Misato's belongings into Lelouch's, and now by extension, Misato's home. Lelouch was beat from moving all the boxes he had lifted, which earned him another playful tease from Misato, which made Nunnally giggle, further wounding his pride. Ritsuko had left and now everyone had gathered at the kitchen table for a meal Misato was preparing for them, which consisted of only microwavable food. When it was all finished, she handed out the food to people and took a huge gulp from the beer she had brought. Interesting fact, there were two boxes that had nothing but beer in them with her. After Misato stopped gulping down her beverage she let out a yell of enjoyment and sat back down, looking at the children before her. Nunnally was eating her food fine, Lelouch was picking at it but still eating nonetheless, but Shinji hadn't even touched his food.

"C'mon Shinji, eat up. It may just be microwave stuff but it's good, really." Misato encouraged him to eat something.

"It's edible at least." Lelouch muttered.

"I like it." Nunnally said enthusiastically. "I've never had food like this and it's good to try new things."

"You're such a nice girl Nunnally." Misato complimented the girl. "So what's wrong?"

"Sorry, it's just that… I don't usually eat stuff like this." He said silently.

"Hey, are you being picky?!" Misato yelled as she got right up in Shinji's face, leaning over the table.

"No, it's just- I meant…" Shinji faltered for a moment, trying to think of what to say, "It looks good." He managed to stammer out. Sitting back down, Misato chuckled a bit.

"This is kinda nice isn't it, a bunch of roomies sitting around enjoying a nice meal." Misato commented on the scenario.

"If you could even call this a meal." Lelouch muttered, but Misato heard him. She leaned herself over the table and started to roughly rub his head.

"Is it too much to ask you to stop being such a buzzkill?!" She yelled. This made Nunnally laugh and even earned a small chuckle from Shinji. Lelouch managed to shake her off and she sat back down. "I mean sheesh; all it's been with you lately is Mr. Mopey. I got an idea! Why don't you take a nice hot bath and wash all that down the drain." Misato recommended in an excited voice because she was going to jump in right after Lelouch since she hadn't had a bath yet.

After the meal everyone had helped cleaned up and decided who was going to do chores on what day. Lelouch had ended up being responsible for them one week, then Shinji the week after, then Misato the week after that, followed lastly by Nunnally the week after that. Misato was now in the bath ever since Lelouch had gotten out. As she was bathing, she thought about the events that had transpired.

_The Third Child, selected without a preliminary report and arrives on the same day as the Angel attack, and on the same day I was supposed to pick up the Fourth Child to meet with Commander Ikari. Not only that, but the Third Child is also Commander Ikari's son. The coincidences just keep on adding up. I just can't help but wonder what's going on._

* * *

**Next Day**

* * *

Lelouch woke up and sluggishly got dressed. He thought what he was going to do today since it was a Saturday.

_Maybe I'll call Rivalz and go gambling. _He thought. There wasn't that much else to do on the weekends. He walked out of his room and smelled what seemed like bacon and eggs. He figured Shinji was cooking breakfast since it was his week to do chores. He walked into the kitchen and saw that he was correct. "Morning." Lelouch said. Shinji turned around to see who it was.

"Good morning."He said back. Lelouch looked around and saw that no one else was up.

"Is everyone else still asleep?" He asked.

"Yes, although I think I heard someone in the bathroom earlier so it might be Misato or Nunnally." Shinji explained to him. Lelouch then turned to the clock and saw that it was eight forty seven. The two boys then heard a knock at the door, so since Shinji was cooking Lelouch went to go and answer it. When he got to the door he opened it to reveal a blonde girl with blue eyes. Lelouch had the impression that he knew this person, but was having trouble remembering.

"Hello Lelouch." The blonde girl said in a friendly, yet professional tone, and it was when she spoke did Lelouch remember her name.

"Dr. Akagi correct?" Lelouch deadpanned, his relatively peaceful morning ruined by the appearance of one of the people who wanted to force Shinji in the Evangelion.

"Just call me Ritsuko. Is Misato here?" She asked.

"I think she's still sleeping." Lelouch half-lied, he didn't know if Misato was the one Shinji was talking about who was in the bathroom, but also wished she was sleeping so that he could get this person to leave. Thankfully everything worked out in his favour.

"Probably hung over again. Well, when she wakes up could you please give her these?" Ritsuko handed Lelouch a folder. "See you at work." She bade farewell and left. Lelouch closed the door and looked at the folder he was given. It didn't look like anything special so he didn't think anything of it and went back to the kitchen. When he got there he saw that Misato was there looking incredibly tired with her head resting on the table and that Nunnally was also there all dressed, but still a little bit tired.

"Morning you two." Lelouch said to the two of them. Nunnally said "Good morning" back and Misato merely grunted.

_She probably is hung over. _Lelouch found himself agreeing with Ritsuko.

"What's that you have there?" Nunnally asked, noticing the folder Lelouch was holding.

"Don't know. That doctor Ritsuko gave it to me to give to Misato." Lelouch told her. Misato held out her hand, not bothering to lift her head and Lelouch gave it to her. She opened them and only opened one eye to look at them.

"Registration forms?" Misato questioned as Shinji brought everyone breakfast. "Guess what Shinji; you're going to start attending Ashford Academy from now on." Misato declared, surprising the boy.

"But- but I'm Japanese." Shinji stammered out, still surprised by the revelation.

"That's okay. Ashford accepts both Britannian and Japanese so there's no need to worry." Nunnally told Shinji in an excited tone. However Shinji didn't look excited at all. Lelouch could easily guess why. Being the son of Gendo Ikari, often referred to as Gendo the Traitor, mustn't have been easy to go through. The entire breakfast was quite after Shinji filled out the registration forms for Ashford. Lelouch was hoping that he was put into his class so that he could keep an eye on him and help him through the motions. He was thinking he should introduce him to his friends to start things off on a positive note. Lelouch was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the doorbell ring. Lelouch again offered to go and answer it. It was probably Rivalz or one of his friends about to ask where he was. When he opened the door his guess was made correct.

"Lelouch, where the heck were you?!" Rivalz exclaimed as he was doing another one of his freak outs.

"Out." Lelouch deadpanned.

"Out, that's all you have to say, out?!" Rivalz continued to yell.

"Yeah." Lelouch again deadpanned. It was so much fun to push Rivalz's buttons.

"Do you have any idea how worried we were?! Not only did we have no idea where you were, but you also didn't return any of our calls and you left Nunnally worried sick!"

"I told her where I was after the state of emergency." Lelouch explained to him, still using that deadpan voice.

"That doesn't- oh, you did?" Rivalz stopped himself from ranting, but then continued. "So then why didn't you call any of us?!" he yelled.

"My phone died." Lelouch said seriously this time. He did want to tell everyone he was alright, but it must have slipped his mind with all that had happened. He told this to Rivalz who finally calmed down.

"As long as you're all right, but man you had us worried." Rivalz told Lelouch as he sighed and hunched over in relaxation at the confirmation his friend was okay. "By the way, what the heck were you doing? Why weren't you at the shelter?" Rivalz asked the question that Lelouch was trying to formulate an answer to.

"Why don't you wait until Monday and I'll tell you. I'm still trying to calm down Nunnally from me being away for so long." Lelouch lied to him. Right now he needed to try and figure out how to bring up that he now had to pilot a giant robot and battle just as giant monstrosities to his friends.

"Alright then, I'll be sure to tell everyone that you're okay. See ya." Rivalz bade farewell, feeling better that he could now calm everyone down with the news that Lelouch was alright.

"See ya." Lelouch also said goodbye to his friend. He closed the door and went to the kitchen.

_I should ask Misato what I can tell them. I don't think it'd be alright to just tell them whatever I wanted about the organization. _Lelouch thought. If Shinji didn't even know about the existence of the Evangelions and it wasn't even in the notebook that was given to him when he arrived at NERV, it would be likely that NERV had wanted the EVAs to be kept a secret from the public.

"Who was doing all the yelling?" Misato asked rather groggily, rubbing her temples as said yelling must have given her a bigger headache.

"A friend of mine was wondering where I was yesterday." I replied. "I told him I'd tell him on Monday."

"Why Monday?" she asked.

"I don't know what to tell him because I don't know whether or not the EVAs are supposed to be some sort of secret."

"Don't worry about it, as long as you don't tell them how it's made or whatever you'll be fine."

_Guess I have nothing to worry about then. _Lelouch thought to himself, pushing aside his worries. Lelouch looked around and saw that Nunnally and Shinji were nowhere in sight. Lelouch asked where they were.

"They went to go clean off Pen Pen. He was taking a bath." Misato told him, still rather groggily.

"Are you not feeling well?" Lelouch found himself asking.

"Just tired from having to stay up all night two days ago and most of the night yesterday, so I'm probably going to go back to sleep." Misato said as she yawned. "I only got up to get something to eat."

"Must be hard work at NERV." Lelouch commented.

"You don't know the half of it."

"I probably will soon though." Lelouch slipped out. He wasn't looking forward to piloting the EVA, but he would do it if it meant keeping his sister away from the damned things. Misato gave Lelouch a sad look when he said this.

"Lelouch, why did you agree to pilot it?" Misato asked. "When I met you I thought for sure that you were going to say no with the way you acting and the way you glared at the Commander sometimes. Yes, I did notice that." Misato told him. Lelouch looked away from her as he wondered if he should tell her the truth.

_No reason not to. _He thought. There weren't many people that he trusted at NERV, if any at all, but he had a feeling Misato was trustworthy.

"I agreed so that Nunnally wouldn't have to." Lelouch told her flat out. Misato snapped out of her sleepy state and looked at Lelouch with surprise and pity. There was a moment of silence as the two didn't say anything to each other, Misato just staring at Lelouch and him just staring at the table. "Misato, what do you think of your boss?" Lelouch asked out of the blue. Misato seemed hesitant at first, but still answered.

"The honest to god truth, I hate him, and I'm speaking for the entire Japanese staff when I say this." Misato told Lelouch, venom distinct in her voice. "That bastard betrayed us for power. That's the kind of person that I just can't stand." Misato continued with the hate filled voice.

"You and me both." Lelouch added. There was another moment of silence as the two just stared at one another, wondering what to say next. Luckily the silence was broken when Shinji and Nunnally came into the kitchen covered in water, along with a grumpy looking Pen Pen.

"Your bird is a menace." Shinji moped tiredly. Pen Pen snapped his beak at him, causing Shinji to jerk his arm up to avoid the mouth turned weapon. Misato immediately got out of her serious mood and smiled at the two.

"Sorry about him." She said as she chuckled. "Hey I got an idea, why don't you two change and we'll find something to do around here. You know, relax a bit." Misato encouraged.

"As long as you don't get drunk." Lelouch teased, also exiting out of serious mood.

"Ha ha, very funny." Misato snapped at him sarcastically.

"Okay." Nunnally and Shinji said in unison and left to get a change of clothes. Lelouch decided to continue the conversation they were having.

"If you guys hate him so much why work with him?" Lelouch asked; if he was offered a job by this man and he was Japanese, he would've said no outright.

"Because we all agreed that our grudge against one man wasn't worth risking the lives of billions of people if we said no." Misato was serious again. "Besides, if we don't defeat the Angels humanity is done for. You've seen what they're capable of, so we need every able man and woman to fight them." Lelouch merely nodded. There was another moment of silence as the two stared at one another yet again. "Man, enough of the depressing atmosphere, I suggested we do something relaxing so let's do that." Misato shot back right into her usual carefree self in a millisecond which made Lelouch chuckle a bit. "What?" Misato asked, wondering why she was being laughed at.

"I just find it charming how easily you switch back from dead serious to carefree and silly the next." Lelouch commented.

"Lelouch, are you hitting on me?" Misato teased, which earned her a glare from Lelouch. She then laughed and left the kitchen.

_I'm going to have to start keeping count how many times we glare at each other. _Lelouch mused in his thoughts. He too got up and went to the room which had a TV where everyone else was waiting.

"So, what are we going to watch?" Misato asked grabbing the remote. No one spoke up as everyone but Misato wasn't much of a television person. "Okay, I'll decide." She concluded and started to surf through some of the channels. She switched onto a channel showing nothing but horror movies which made Nunnally and Shinji hide behind the couch and grossed out Lelouch, she then switched to the a channel showing romance movies which Nunnally seemed interested in, but Misato and Lelouch both groaned in disgust, and Shinji just seemed indifferent. She then turned to the nature channel which Pen Pen was interested in because it was showing a special about penguins, but Misato switched the channel, earning her a snap of the beak from Pen Pen. After a few minutes nobody found anything that they would want to watch. "Man you guys have really boring television." Misato commented, bored out of her mind.

"Well this was your idea, so any other suggestions?" Lelouch asked, also bored. When Misato didn't say anything Lelouch sighed. Luckily there was a knock at the door along with the yell of a woman's voice.

"LELOUCH LAMPEROUGE!" Lelouch heard Milly yell. "YOU GET OUT HERE THIS INSTANT!"

"This ought to be fun." Misato chuckled. Lelouch merely sighed as a response and went to go answer the door, everyone in the living room looking round the corner, Shinji and Nunnally with eyes of confusion, Misato with an eager expression on her face. Lelouch prepared himself for the verbal assault of questions and opened the door, not only revealing Milly, but Shirley and Rivalz as well. Rivalz was laughing nervously and scratching his neck, signifying that he tried to keep these two calm but failed.

"What is it Milly?" Lelouch asked with a tired voice.

"Don't you 'what is it Milly' me buddy! Where the heck were you? You had us scared to death." Milly asked her angry tone fading as she asked him the last two questions.

"I told Rivalz I'd tell you all on Monday." Lelouch told them; getting even more tired the longer this went on.

"You can tell us right now!" Shirley this time yelled, getting up in Lelouch's face. She then turned her eyes and saw everyone watching this entire endeavour, Nunnally's and Shinji's face still as confused as ever, and Misato barely holding in her laughter. "Um, Lulu, who are those two?" Shirley asked, but the question was mainly directed to whoever Misato was, her jealousy rising slightly.

"Who are you talking about?" Milly spoke up, wondering who Shirley was pointing to.

_Oh god. _Lelouch groaned in his thoughts as Milly peeked her head inside, seeing who Shirley was talking about. Milly's eyes grew wide in surprise at the two people. Shinji slightly cowered around the corner as Misato merely waved; enjoying the predicament Lelouch was currently in.

"What're you all looking at?" Rivalz asked next and also saw what the big deal was.

_This is why I wanted to talk about it on Monday._ Lelouch fumed in his thoughts.

"Lelouch who are these people?" Shirley, Milly, and Rivalz asked in unison, Shirley's voice being the most prominent.

"Come in and I'll explain." Lelouch sighed, directing his friends into the living room, and while he passed by Misato he couldn't help but notice her chuckling.

"You should have seen the look on your face." She managed to say between chuckles. Lelouch continued to walk by and also noted that Shinji was rather uncomfortable. He probably wasn't used to meeting so many people in one day. Lelouch gave him a look that said 'don't worry' and somewhat calmed him down. Everyone was now in the living room, waiting for Lelouch to explain himself.

"So Lulu," Milly broke the silence, her coy attitude and voice making the situation even more uncomfortable, "care to tell us who your new friends are?" Lelouch was rubbing his temples, Milly's voice giving him a headache.

"Everyone, this is Lieutenant – Colonel Misato Katsuragi and Shinji." Lelouch left out Shinji's last name, not wanting him to get the stares from his friends he knew they were going to give him, which Shinji seemed thankful for, but he did tell them Misato's rank so that they would stop being so suspicious of… actually Lelouch didn't want to know what they thought was between them. It worked as the three friends were surprised by the girls rank, seeing as how she wasn't acting like it, nor looked like it.

"Way to spoil the fun." Misato grumbled, upset that Mr. Buzzkill had to kill the fun.

"Wait, you're serious? She's really military?!" Rivalz was being his usual ecstatic self when information like this was revealed out of the blue.

"You betcha." Misato told Rivalz, although her carefree demeanor didn't seem to convince everyone else. "But not just any military, I'm a member of NERV." This revelation seemed to surprise the three of them.

"NERV? Like, _the _NERV?" Shirley this time asked. Misato nodded in response.

"But why are you and Shinji living with Lelouch and Nunnally?" Rivalz asked.

"Shinji and I work for NERV now." Lelouch blurted out in a serious tone. The three friend's eyes were now focused on him, completely dumbstruck by the revelation. They didn't know what to say and Milly's joking attitude was now gone. "Because Shinji didn't have a place to stay Misato offered him to live at his place, but then I offered to let both of them live here with me so that if we had to get called into work she wouldn't have to drive all the way over here and pick me up." Lelouch told them an altered version of the story, and glared at Misato to stop her from telling them how it actually happened.

"But you're only fifteen Lelouch, and Shinji is probably thirteen, why are you working for a military organization?" Shirley asked, worry clear in her voice.

"I- I'm fourteen actually." Shinji corrected Shirley, albeit timidly.

"And that makes it better?" Shirley argued.

"We don't have a choice." Lelouch told her to try and calm her down.

"What do you mean?" Rivalz asked confused by what Lelouch had said. Lelouch looked to Misato for confirmation and she waved her hand as a way of saying yes. She may have said that it was okay to talk about the Evangelions, but she was probably still half drunk when she said it. He then began to explain what had happened the past few days and what Shinji, and eventually he himself, would have to go through. Lelouch saw that Shinji was looking as depressed as ever about it all, but that was to be expected, given the situation. Everyone was quite after that, not knowing what to say after all that information was brought up.

"It's not fair." Shirley spoke up, angry about the entire thing.

"I know, but there isn't anyone else who can do it." Lelouch told her in a serious tone. There was no way he was about to tell them that Nunnally could pilot, especially not right in front of her. "Shinji and I aren't exactly proud of it either, but were going to do our best to try and deal with it." Lelouch spoke for himself and Shinji. Even though he had no idea what Shinji was feeling right now, he did his best to voice his thoughts. Shinji seemed thankful for this as he wasn't as tense as he was before, but that wasn't saying much. Nobody knew what to say for a while and everyone just sat in silence.

"Lelouch?" It was Nunnally of all people to break the silence. "Is it… dangerous to pilot the Evangelion?" Lelouch felt as if he got stabbed in the chest with the question. He hadn't told anyone what piloting the EVA was like and that Shinji, or the EVA, Lelouch was still not sure which had gone out of control, had gone berserk during the fight with the Angel. It took some time before Lelouch could answer, but eventually did, though it was still somewhat difficult to say.

"Yes." Was all Lelouch could say as an answer. Now both he and Shinji were depressed, Shinji because he was still apprehensive about piloting the EVA, Lelouch because he was making Nunnally and his friends worried about him.

"You guys don't need to worry." Misato chimed in, trying to cheer everyone up. "The staff at NERV is well equipped and we always make sure our pilots safety is top priority, so that means we'll be ready to back them up in any way we can to make sure they don't get hurt." Misato's attempts at lightening the mood were somewhat working, but emphasis on the word somewhat. Everyone was still upset about the situation, and it would take some real pushing to cheer them up. After a while Milly got up from her seat.

"We better get going." Milly told Rivalz and Shirley. "It's clear that you guys still need some time to yourselves to try and figure this out, so it would probably be best if we just left." Milly told them before her friends could protest. Lelouch nodded and the three of them left, albeit hesitantly. They wanted to do their best to help their friend, but they just couldn't think of a way to help him out with this. The four residents of the building just sat in silence as they heard the door to the front entrance open and close. Lelouch noticed that the sun was just starting to set.

_Either it took me longer than I thought to explain everything to them, or we were sitting around trying to find something to watch for that long. _Lelouch thought. Everyone continued to sit in silence as time went on by, Shinji didn't even go and prepare supper because he had a feeling no one was really hungry at the moment.

"I'm going to my room to get some rest." Lelouch deadpanned, breaking the silence. Nobody responded as he got up and went to his room. When he entered, he went towards the window and looked out into the sunset. He was angry right now, angry that he was coerced into piloting the EVA, angry that if he refused they would force Nunnally to do it, and now he was angry because he had his friends worrying about him. It also angered him that he was used so easily and his identity so easily revealed. The last few days were probably the worst of Lelouch's life in his opinion. When he heard a knock on the door he was brought out of his thoughts. "You can come in." When the door opened it was revealed to be Nunnally. "Nunnally, is something the matter?" Lelouch asked, already knowing the answer to the question.

"Lelouch," Nunnally started, not knowing how to ask what she was about to, "you said that piloting the EVA was dangerous right?" Nunnally's voice was choking up.

"… I did." Lelouch replied, also choking up.

"Exactly… how dangerous is it?" Nunnally asked, her eyes showing that she was about to cry. Lelouch didn't know how to answer this question. Could he avoid it and say that there was no need to worry, or should he just tell her the truth? The images of Shinji's battle started playing in his mind and they made the first choice seem more appetizing, but he knew that his sister would be able to see through it and only worry her even more.

"It is extremely dangerous." Lelouch told her seriously, but with some softness in his voice. He found that there was no point in lying to her. She would figure out anyway that piloting the EVAs was dangerous if he was not at home because he was unconscious due to one of the battles he was involved in. Nunnally was now crying and went to Lelouch and hugged him, holding him as if he would disappear if she let go. He returned the hug, holding Nunnally in a soft embrace to try and calm her down.

"Please, promise me you won't leave me." Nunnally managed to say between sobs.

"Hey," Lelouch firmly said as he pulled Nunnally out of the hug and leaned down to look her in the eyes, "I will _never _leave you Nunnally, you know that. Not now, not tomorrow, and not because I'm going to pilot some robot." Lelouch told her firmly, wiping away some of her tears. Nunnally pulled Lelouch back into another hug. She continued to sob and Lelouch continued to comfort her. This exchange was not unnoticed as Shinji was just at the door, peeking in. He was coming down here to ask if they were hungry, but thought the timing was inappropriate, so he decided to keep quite. He walked away from Lelouch's room quietly.

_How can he be so brave? He's never even piloted an EVA, but he seems so determined to do it. _Shinji wondered as he walked down the hall to his new room. He then remembered what Lelouch told him when he woke up.

"_Because if I don't my eleven year old sister would have to, and I would never let that happen." _He told him firmly. Shinji then realised that Lelouch was piloting the EVA not because he wanted to, but so that he could protect his sister from the Angels, but also from the EVAs themselves.

_His sister seems so innocent and kind, she would never be able to pilot an EVA. _Shinji thought. _But then, why is it I have to pilot one? _It seemed to Shinji that he didn't have an answer to this question. He didn't have anything he needed to protect or any special talents, so why him? It was going to take a while for Shinji to find an answer to this question.

* * *

**Next Day**

* * *

Lelouch had woken up incredibly early, considering that it was about midnight. He looked to his left and saw Nunnally holding him. She didn't want to leave him, so Lelouch let her sleep with him in his room. Although it seemed that Lelouch wasn't going to be getting much sleep, considering that he woke up this early late at night. He tenderly got out of bed, making sure not to wake Nunnally. Lelouch left his room and headed to the living room. When he got there he sat down on one of the couches and did nothing more. He didn't know what to do at this point. Time seemed to fly by as Lelouch just sat there on the couch because when he looked at the clock it had said two thirty.

_Second time that's happened. _Lelouch mused.

As Lelouch continued to sit down, he started to wonder if he really was cut out to be a pilot for the Evangelion, wondering if he would be of any use, if he would be able to protect Nunnally… _No, don't think like that! _Lelouch scolded himself. _You made a promise to yourself that you would protect her and you will. Nothing is going to change that! _Lelouch reassured himself. Even if what he was going to have to go through would be hell, he would do it no matter what. After Lelouch had reassured himself he lost track of time and eventually fell asleep on the couch.

When morning came Misato found herself waking up without a headache for once and smiled at the nice feeling. She then looked at her clock and saw that it was seven twenty in the morning.

_That early? _Misato whined. She tried to get back to sleep, but to no avail. She was no wishing she was drunk so that she could go to sleep faster. After a few minutes of squirming around she finally decided to get up. She decided to try and find something on the TV again and hopefully stay on a channel for more than a few seconds. When she got to the living room however she was greeted by a rather surprising sight, Lelouch sleeping on the couch. Misato let out a small chuckle and went to wake him up.

"Hey, Lelouch." She whispered as she shook him a bit. The teenage didn't wake, so she shook him a bit harder, but he still didn't wake up. Getting annoyed Misato just decided to pull a piece of his hair to wake him up, which worked.

"What the heck was that for?" Lelouch grumbled, rubbing the spot where Misato had pulled his hair.

"To wake you up. It's bad for your back to sleep on a couch you know." She told him coyly. Lelouch grumbled and sat up on the couch, moving over to give Misato some room. "Thank you." She chirped as she grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

"You woke me up just so you could watch TV didn't you?" Lelouch asked tiredly.

"Maybe." Misato replied in a cutesy manner, putting the remote up to her mouth, hiding it, adding to the innocent tone of her voice. Lelouch just shot a look at her that said 'Really?'. "Bite me." Misato shot at him. Lelouch sighed in response. Misato had actually managed to find a channel to her liking and stayed on it, but there was something that was bothering her. Why exactly was Lelouch sleeping on the couch? She decided to voice her question.

"No reason." Was all the answer she got.

"If you say so." With the way yesterday had went, Misato could take a guess as to why Lelouch had decided to sleep on the couch, so she didn't push him any further. Misato and Lelouch heard a door open and close and saw that Shinji had woken up. "Morning." Misato and Lelouch said in unison.

"Morning." Shinji replied groggily. He had then went into the kitchen and started to prepare breakfast. After he had finished that Nunnally had also woken up and sat down at the table. Breakfast was eaten in mostly silence until Misato spoke up.

"By the way Shinji, you'll have to quickly drop by Ashford to pick up your uniform and school books." Misato had told Shinji.

"Oh, uh, okay." Shinji replied meekly.

"I'll help you out with that. Ashford is pretty big and you would most likely get lost." Lelouch offered Shinji.

"Th- thank you." Shinji replied, thankful for Lelouch's offering. Breakfast was finished in silence after that and when all the dishes were put away Lelouch and Shinji went to Ashford to pick up his supplies. The two of them were silent most of the way over to the Academy until Shinji broke the silence.

"So what's Ashford like?" Shinji asked Lelouch unenthusiastically.

"It's just like any other school really, but it can get pretty wild from time to time." Lelouch explained, remembering one of the many wild conundrums that Milly had gotten the school into.

"What makes you say that?" Shinji asked curiously.

"Well the school hosts a cross-dressing festival so that could be considered rather wild." Lelouch explained to Shinji.

"Cro- cross-dressing festival?" Shinji blurted out in surprise. "And the headmaster allows that?"

"Well considering the headmaster's daughter is the president of the student council and she's the one that thought it up, you can see how it would be considered alright." Lelouch replied in a tired voice, remembering the last cross-dressing festival and how many girls fawned over him and his outfit. What kind of outfit it was shall never be revealed as long as Lelouch lives. Lelouch then noticed the worried and embarrassed face Shinji had. "Don't worry, if you don't want to be a part of it you can always skip with me." Lelouch again offered to the boy. Lelouch felt that he had to help Shinji out as much as possible, seeing as how he seemed like he didn't have the easiest of times getting along with others and how distant he usually was.

"You skip classes?" Shinji asked in surprise.

"Yeah, what's so surprising about that?"

"You just don't seem like the kind of person to skip class." Shinji replied.

"Really?" Lelouch was surprised with his reasoning. "Almost everyone I know thinks I am the kind of kid that skips class. And trust me when classes actually start, you will understand why." Lelouch groaned the last sentence. The subjects that were taught were so incredibly boring, at least to him.

"What do you do when you skip class?"

"I go gambling with Rivalz." Lelouch replied honestly.

"That explains why Misato said that you gambled. Why do you gamble anyway? Can't it be kind of dangerous?" Shinji asked. He didn't know much about gambling, but he did know that it could be dangerous if you win money from the wrong person.

"I usually go against nobles, and they wouldn't dare do anything to harm a civilian, it would make them look bad, and lord knows nobles love to keep their perfect images sustained." Shinji was again surprised by Lelouch's answer. It seems that Lelouch always had something to surprise someone. Shinji stopped asking Lelouch anymore questions about his personal life after that, having his fill of surprises for the day.

"What are the students like?" Shinji asked, although with some apprehension in his voice. Lelouch knew why he was asking this and took some time to contemplate an answer that would be the most favourable, but couldn't find anything.

"Are you asking because you're an Honorary Britannian, or because you're the son of Gendo Ikari?" Lelouch asked Shinji. Shinji didn't answer and looked away slightly. "I'll take that as a bit of both then." Lelouch answered for himself. "The staff tries their best to stop bullying against Honorary Britannian's, but that doesn't mean they are able to stop it completely, and given the fact that you're Gendo's son it will complicate things." Lelouch told Shinji honestly. Shinji got even more downtrodden by this answer. "Look, I have a feeling that you probably didn't get treated the best when you were going to school when you were younger, but if you ever need any help just come and find me." Lelouch tried his best to help Shinji and give him some courage.

"What could you possibly do?" Shinji asked in a tone that seemed as if he was already accepting of what some of the bullies would do to him.

"I am pretty popular at school, and I am a member of the student council, so maybe some of the students will back off if they see you have some… 'Friends in high places' I'll say." Shinji's mood seemed to lift a little when Lelouch had told him this. "Trust me, Milly can make some students lives a living hell if someone picks on one of her friends, and since she understands your predicament, she will be willing to help you out whenever you need it."

"But she doesn't know that I'm an Ikari, so how can you be so sure?" Shinji doubted Lelouch somewhat. People rarely showed him kindness, so why would someone he met only yesterday be kind to him.

"Milly can be a very understanding person when she wants to be, so I don't think she'll care that you're Gendo's son." Lelouch was speaking from experience when he told Shinji this. Milly had been keeping his secret for some time now, so Lelouch didn't think it would be a big problem if Shinji was the son of one of the most hated people in the world. Shinji however still didn't look convinced. "Look, I understand that you're uncomfortable going to this school given your situation, but just know that there are people who are willing to help you out, and if you ever do need it, they will be able to do something about it." Lelouch told Shinji firmly. This had seemed to improve Shinji's mood slightly as he was now looking Lelouch in the eye and saw the seriousness on his face.

"Thank you." Shinji found himself saying. He was grateful that someone was willing to help him with his problems. No one had ever done that for him before, so he was incredibly thankful, but still nervous as he had never really been to a Britannian school before and was usually taught in Japanese schools that were falling apart.

The two boys had now gotten all of the supplies that Shinji would need and were now heading back to the house. When they had returned Misato had practically begged Shinji to put on his uniform to see how he looked in it. Shinji had finally agreed and was now wearing it for all to see.

"You look so professional!" Misato complimented Shinji like a schoolgirl with a crush, slightly embarrassing Shinji.

"Unlike someone we know." Lelouch muttered, but Misato still heard and shot him another glare. _What is it now, like eight to five? _Lelouch tried to remember how many times Misato and himself had glared at one another.

"Coming from someone who skips class to gamble." Misato shot back in a snide tone.

"Touché." Lelouch had to give her that one.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful and everyone just did what they pleased. When it was time to go to sleep, Shinji was wondering what his life as a new student at Ashford Academy was going to be like.

_Maybe it won't be so bad after all. I mean, Lelouch has been pretty nice and offered to help me out. _Shinji told himself, feeling a bit gladder about Lelouch's offer. _Although, I'm still not so sure about the cross-dressing festival._

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **

This chapter took longer than expected, but hey, least I got it done. Now, time to respond to some reviews.

**Imperial warlord: You are so nice. Thank you very much.**

**Zarbapha: You shall see my friend. You shall see.**

**BahamutX978: THANK GOD YOU UNDERSTAND! When I uploaded this I thought "I am so getting chewed out." But thank you for understanding. And don't worry, I am not going to completely plagiarize your work. As seen in this chapter I have gone in a different direction than your story. Also I'm not going to include the Nightmare of Nunnally bit as I have something planned for her that will have the Nunnally fans gunning for my throat. *cough*Bard*COUGHCOUGHCOUGH*. So yeah, I don't plan on completely copying your work, and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR UNDERSTANDING. If you yourself have any comments on my story please feel free to give them, I would really appreciate it. Again, thank you so very much.**

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Hope to see you to the very end.


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